Scelsi Piano Works

7/31/2019 Scelsi Piano Works

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Scelsi: Piano Works (review)

iacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) wrote one of this century's largest sets of piano music. This pianistic out

as concentrated into two relatively brief periods: 1930-1941 and 1952-1956. At that point, Scelsi's

mpositional development forced him to largely abandon keyboard instruments -- until then, the pia

d been by far his most-used vehicle for self-expression. Scelsi was a virtuoso pianist, and even his

ost experimental compositions in this genre show a marked pianistic conception. The place which tutput will hold in the repertoire remains to be seen -- Scelsi was basically 'discovered' in the 80s.

he first period of piano writing (1930-1941) occurred during Scelsi's early compositional phase in

hich his language was largely traditional. Here the greatest influences seem to be Scriabin, Berg &

artok. This was also when Scelsi wrote his "rabbits" such as the extremely impressive String Quart

o. 1 (1944) and the still un-recorded cantataLa Nascita del Verbo (1948). The early piano output

cludes four sonatas as well as the first seven suites. Some of these are lost, and the others will no d

recorded at some point.

fter 1948, Scelsi abandoned composing for a few years only to emerge with his new style in 1952. T

ginning of this period is again concerned almost exclusively with the piano, the following pieces b

ritten at that time: Suite No. 8 (1952), Four Illustrations (1953), Five Incantations (1953), Suite No

953), Suite No. 10 (1954),Action Music (1955), and Suite No. 11 (1956). The intended purpose of

ticle is as a review of Werner Bartschi's recording of Suites Nos. 8 & 9 on Accord 200802.

nfortunately, I have been largely unsuccessful at obtaining scores of these pieces, so my knowledge

ot as large as I would hope.

he Suite No. 8 "Bot-Ba (Tibet)" is subtitled: "Evocation of Tibet with its monasteries on high mounmmits - Tibetan rituals - Prayers and Dances." Though it is described as less(!) violent than the Su

o. 6, the Suite No. 8 makes much use of toccata-style movements largely based on clusters. These

ternate with slower meditative sections based on slow chord ostinatos, with still a hint of Schoenbe

e connecting sections. This Suite is immediately attractive for any barbarians who might like cluste

ccatas and percussive devices, as it is still largely concerned with aggressive motion, despite the tit

owever, it is still successful at evoking Tibet -- or at least the recorded Tibetan music I have heard,

hich is more than a little dissonant. The suite is in six movements with the "center" in the third base

n the golden section. This is followed by an extremely dissonant movement, then the slowest movem

the suite, and then the complex Bartokian finale. Bartschi's playing is admirable, particularly in thtremely virtuosic finale.

he Four Illustrations and Five Incantations are recorded by Suzanne Fournier on Accord 200742.

hese works are much shorter than the Suites 8 & 9, and the Four Illustrations in particular is more

ncentrated in form. This piece is in four movements describing four avatars of Vishnu, and might b

id to correspond roughly to a sonata -- in particular the Four Illustrations occupy the same position

celsi's middle output with respect to the piano sonata as does the massive orchestral workAion with

spect to the symphony. Both conclude with slow, fading resolutions. The Four Illustrations is char
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ith a variety of ideas, and is a piece I continue to find fascinating after more than a hundred hearing

have little doubt that it is Scelsi's finest piano piece. For the most part it is a slow work based on mu

ssage-work in the middle registers and subtle interactions between the movements; the violent Var

vatar (as scherzo) is the exception. The Four Illustrations begins Scelsi's concentration on slow and

atic music. The Five Incantations are much simpler in conception -- though quite virtuosic pianistic

ch is basically independent with a clearly identifiable theme. They might be described as rhapsodie

ossibly etudes.

he Suite No. 9 "Ttai (Peace)" is subtitled: "A succession of episodes which alternatively express Tim

more precisely, Time in motion, and Man as symbolized by cathedrals or monasteries, with the so

the sacred Om," along with the comment: "This Suite should be listened to and played with the

eatest interior calm. Restless people should keep away." This rambling piece is in nine movement,

early restrained and predominately quiet and slow. Though Halbreich repeats his comparison betwe

celsi and Bruckner when discussing this piece in the CD notes, it is particularly here that the limits

is comparison are seen. I find that there is always a sense of striving (an idea which is surely

separable from the 19th century) in Bruckner's music, and this Suite of Scelsi's is nothing but arriva

celsi returns more extremely to ostinato-based movements, as well as simply slow repeated chords;ok me several hearings to appreciate this suite, and it continues to occupy something of a singular

osition -- perhaps a rock on which Scelsi's further explorations during the 50s are levered. There are

any moments of evocation of various world musics, in particular the compressed southeast asian st

olyphony of the fourth movement, which is something of a resolution for the first part of the suite.

nother high point is the eighth movement which is then followed by a slow finale. In this eighth

ovement, Scelsi starts a polyphonic style which he was to use later in his string writing. I also hear

mething of the style of Charles Tournemire in hisDon Quixote / Vanity movements; whether Scels

new Tournemire I do not know, though I think the comparison is apt as this suite is one of Scelsi's m

in pieces.

he Suite No. 9 has also been recorded by Marianne Schroeder on Hat Hut CD, along with the Suite

0 "Ka (Essence.)" Though Schroeder's performance is good, Bartschi's is better. Not only does he b

deeper sense to the music, but he plays it 10% faster (something which doesn't hurt for this piece.)

uite No. 10 is not very successful, in my opinion -- the bind in which Scelsi finds himself here migh

ve had something to do with his abandonment of the piano shortly afterward. At the beginning, thi

ite offers something of an introduction to the earlier piano music (and this is something Scelsi was

ntinue for some years: an incredible new idea emerging like a boulder, followed by somewhat easi

eces which function as something of an explanation for the first; example: String Quartets Nos. 2 &he first three movements use more traditional western figurations in Scelsi's slow ostinato style,

llowed by a fourth movement which combines these and then three other movements which close t

ven movement suite. These last three movements are largely based on quickly arpeggiated chords i

e highest register over slow recitatives in the lower ones. Some of the new sound ideas here do poi

ward Scelsi's later output, such as the highly singular world ofPfhat(1974).

heAction Music and Suite No. 11 are not yet recorded, though I suspect Accord will be coming out

ith them soon. I expect thatAction Music returns to the cluster toccatas of Bot Ba, and that the Suit


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o. 11 develops further some of the later ideas in Ka -- though I would really like to find out how Sc

ds his piano output (not surprisingly at the same time as he was writing Triphon for solo cello.) In

dition to these pieces, there is a later piano pieceAitsi (1974) which uses electronics to de-temper t

caying resonances. This is similar to Stockhausen'sMantra, though the effect is quite different. Th

ring Quartet No. 5 is based onAitsi, and the piano piece is arguably more effective -- the contrast

tween attack and decay is much more extreme. Here as in most of Scelsi's last music, the language

uite harsh and largely eschews any traditional development.Aitsi is one six-minute movement, base

chord expanded in a style similar to Indian classical alap (though stacked vertically.)

ack to Giacinto Scelsi page.

odd M. McComb

te 1991
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Scelsi Piano Works